C-NS SADD group aims to give students a safe place to go after the ball

Cicero-North Syracuse High School's Students Against Destructive Decisions group is putting on an After the Ball Party after the school's Senior Ball to discourage students from getting into trouble. As an incentive to encourage students to attend, Burdick Toyota has donated a car for one lucky student to win. Pictured with the car are, from left, SADD President Sarah Knickerbocker, club co-advisor Michele Barbagallo, Tori Florczyk, co-advisor Sara Villnave, Anna Doren and Kayla Ventura.
Photo by Sarah Hall.

Cicero  It’s been a tough year for the kids in Cicero-North Syracuse High School’s Class of 2012.

In December, popular senior Taylor Fleming was killed in a car accident.

Last month, class advisor Marty Campbell, a social studies teacher, lost his battle with lymphoma.

With the Senior Ball this weekend, the Students Against Destructive Decisions club is hopeful that their classmates will be mindful of those losses and think carefully about what they’ll do to celebrate after the dance.

“We just lost so many people in our class that meant a lot to us, and we don’t want to lose someone else to a stupid mistake,” said club president Sarah Knickerbocker.

In order to provide students with an alternative, SADD is putting on an After the Ball party from midnight to 3 a.m. Sunday, June 10, immediately following Saturday’s Senior Ball, at Drivers Village. The event has been offered for a number of years, according to SADD advisor Sara Villnave.

“I think that Bill Brown, one of our health teachers, started this, but it might have even been before that,” Villnave said. “I know for a quite a few years, Toni Brauchle over at the CanTeen started the grassroots of the community connections and doing all of that stuff. She and her people ran the organization. Then SADD started to do it maybe 10 years ago, give or take. It has always been run by an organization that focuses on prevention and focuses on safe places for people to hang out after the senior ball.”

The event features a number of attractions to draw kids in, including a caricature artist, a henna tattoo artist, inflatables and tarot card readers. The biggest draw, however, is the prize students can win at the end of the night.

“Burdick Toyota has been generously donating a car for more than 20 years to a lucky senior,” Villnave said. “There are no ties to it. They don’t have to pay taxes. There’s no lease on it. All they have to do is basically register it, put insurance on it, and it’s theirs.”